Recently lighting systems have been transformed. This has been possible due to the increased use of individually controlled single lights with advanced rendering capabilities such as LED luminaries that have been becoming increasingly affordable and effective. As a result of which, there has been an increasing demand for more complex lighting systems which invariably involve computer controls.
An example of a known computer-controlled lighting system is disclosed by WO 2008/104927. The approach described in WO 2008/104927 aims to automatically render a pattern of light on a working surface by localizing the point of maximum intensity of each light on the surface, work points, and to compute system (linear or non-linear) equations to minimize the error between the colours rendered at the work points and the corresponding points in a desired light pattern.
However, using such a computer-controlled system for the setting of ambient lighting is cumbersome. It requires knowledge of a series of parameters for each light, such as the angle of incidence to the surface and the distance from the surface. Further, the illumination effects are created on a work surface. An extension from a single surface to an area such as a room or an outside area is not trivial. This is because the method in WO 2008/104927 samples few points of the work surface used to obtain the optimal solution. Since only one point per light is sampled, the effect of the considered light on the surrounding scene is completely neglected. The main assumption is thus that the scene is modelled as a completely uniform surface, with an absence of objects and with a uniform colour.
As a result complex ambient lighting schemes cannot be developed using such existing systems. Furthermore these existing lighting systems provide no intuitive control and are incapable of fully exploiting the rendering capabilities of the complete lighting system.
Further, there has been a clear trend towards increasing the amount of technology in the home. As smart devices proliferate and become universally networked, users experience an increase in both the number of the devices they can control and the available interaction modalities for controlling them. One major trend in interacting with technology is to interact with a device from a distance, from anywhere in a room, without any additional device such as a remote control for example, i.e. ubiquitous device-less interaction. An example of ubiquitous device-less interaction is using speech commands to control a device at a distance from the device and get feedback on its operating status, without actually having to walk to the device or fetch the remote control.
Although there exist many products that provide input commands to a device from a distance without a remote control, for example using speech recognition technologies, there is no existing solution which provides continuous feedback of the operating status of a device anywhere in a room.
Typically, electronic devices provide feedback about their operating status using LEDs or displays on the devices themselves. This obviously relies on the user being able to see the device and read the local display, which is not always possible or desirable. One solution is the use of projecting the status display onto a wall near the user but this is cumbersome, cannot be viewed from anywhere and not suitable for outdoor areas.
Another solution is the use of sound. One trivial example is the oven beeping when a time is reached on its timer. Another is use of speech such as used in car navigation systems or in the later generations of iPod Shuffle. However, the disadvantages of using sound are that sound cannot be used continuously to show the operating status of a device, it can only be used to indicate a special event. In the example above, the beep indicating that a time has been reached is acceptable, but a voice continuously saying “The oven temperature is 170 degrees and it is increasing” would be annoying. Further, simple sounds cannot provide enough information about complex, diverse functionalities of modern home appliances.
Speech can convey richer feedback than simple sounds, but for many applications synthesized speech is perceived as unnatural and of little practical use.
Use of lighting, for example, changing illumination to indicate a change in status of a device is known as disclosed, for example, by EP 1168288.